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Friday, March 10, 2017

Bald Eagle

I took this second-year Bald Eagle photo on 7 March near Faribault, Rice Co., Minnesota. I almost deleted the image from my camera. The bird was far away. I hoped that I would get some interaction between the eagle and the crow; or, at least, the eagle taking flight. But the eagle paid little or no attention to the crow. As eagles do, this bird strolled along the shoreline, consuming dead fish.

When I got home, I noticed the eagle’s bulging crop. Bald Eagles gorge on large amounts of food. They are then able to fast for many days. Eagles avoid foul-tasting prey. I shouldn’t think that fish stored in a crop would be tasty. Fortunately, they have little sense of smell. In any case, captive eagles have gone without food for up to 32 days (Buchler 2000).